Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan

I watched a movie that was just starting up on the movie channel today, and the cinematography caught my attention drawing me in to watching more than the original 30 seconds I expected to watch. When I saw the movie was subtitled, and the men were wearing large fur-topped hats, I checked to see what the movie was called; Mongol was the name, a movie that came out in 2007.

In all honesty, I’ve never really read up on or learned much about Mongolian history - the most knowledge I have is from I have gathered over the years from dining at The Mongolian Village restaurants here in Ottawa. I did not read any more than the blurb our cable company provided - it was about a Mongolian man named Temudjin, and it was about his rough life in the late 1100s.

The movie started out with a 9 year old Temudjin, and his father was bringing him along on a trip to aid in selecting his bride. Temudjin indeed does meet his future wife in a camp of Mongols, but she is the one that boldly selects him.

[ as usual, the spoilers are light - it should be safe to proceed ]

In this movie Temudjin is always getting into trouble, but the trouble he finds is always a result of a choice he has made. At 9 years old he’s already made his name known amongst groups on Mongols, he’s marked as a dead once he grows up into a man and worth killing, and he makes friends that knows him as kind and fair.

To be honest - I am surprised that I watched the entire movie, but I have to say, if you’ve not seen this movie and subtitles do not bother you, Mongol is a great epic story about a Mongolian man’s hard life. The movie follows his life and choices; Temudjin finds himself as an outcast, a warrior, a slave, and a good husband - really, this man endures a lot in his life.

The movie is quickly paced, it moves from scene to scene fairly fast, always advancing Temudjin’s life story. At times we skip forward months at a time, and other times years go by… but you never feel as though they are leaving out key bits of information despite the gaps in time. The movie is well put together, and the directory has managed to keep the flow of the entire movie very fluid so that you are always aware of what is going on.

My favorite parts in Mongol are the battle scenes. There are short skirmishes between men that burst into violence and end almost as quick as they started, but the best parts are the battle scenes where armies of men fight their enemies to the last man… it’s really well done, not over the top yet it feels believable throughout the fight scenes.

As the movie neared its end, I felt I knew where things were going… but I felt as though the Temudjin’s  journey and my lack of knowledge about Mongolian history made it all that much better. If you are like me and know little to nothing about the movie, go and get it, sit down and watch it - I really do think you will enjoy this movie.